Truth, justice, casinos

Published
4:00 am PDT, Thursday, July 12, 2001

IT'S HARD to imagine that Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., was worrying about the traffic, crime or aesthetic sensibilities of San Pablo when he crafted an amendment that will make it more difficult to put a major casino in the East Bay city. More likely, Reid was thinking about the potential impact on gambling halls in his state.

Still, Reid's amendment will help assure an honest process for the Lytton band of Pomo Indians' attempt to bring blackjack and slot machines to what has been a cardroom with very limited games. The Reid provision -- part of a spending bill that may be approved by the full Senate as early as today -- would repeal an earlier amendment by Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, that rewrote history to proclaim that the casino site had been tribal land before passage of the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988. A historical claim on that land would make it extremely difficult for a local or state government to stop a casino proposal.

The 220-member Lytton band is from Sonoma County -- and plans to establish a new homestead on 50 acres outside Windsor with the help of profits by taking over a casino in an urban area. Gov. Gray Davis has raised serious concerns about this distortion of the voter-passed Prop. 1A that allowed expanded gambling on reservation land -- but he may not be able to stop it as long as the Miller amendment is in place.

Reid took the courtesy of notifying Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a vocal skeptic of an escalation of Nevada-style gaming in this state, in advance of his proposal. Feinstein was "not opposed," a spokesperson said yesterday.

This appears to be a case in which the best interests of the Bay Area and Nevada converged. Reid's proposal will properly delete from federal law an intentional falsehood about one tribe's history.